If you haven’t had a chance yet to read my post from last week, I recommend you start there. This post is an update on my experimentation with creating a morning practice.
My Morning Practice Activities
Thus far my morning practice has averaged about 20-30 minutes. There are three main “activities” that are sticking best and filling up that time.
Drinking Water
This has already been a consistent morning habit so it has flowed well into a larger morning routine. We typically wake up dehydrated because of the way our bodies function during sleep. I set a full glass of water by my bed as an easy reminder to hydrate as I get up and start the day.
Journaling
I’ve journaled inconsistently since I was about nine years old. Oh, to read the thoughts of my nine-year-old mind (I still have some of those old journals so it’s interesting to take a peek every now and then). Journaling daily as I wake up has been interesting. Sometimes I stare at the page blankly, feeling as though I haven’t woken up enough to have anything to say. But I’ve recognized that I have less expectation for what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it – so this groggy journaling is actually a bit more unfiltered than other journaling I’ve done. It’s been a cool way to discover what’s actually on my mind.
Planning/Reviewing Daily Goals and Tasks
This has taken a couple different forms. Once or twice I’ve asked myself the question, “What will make today great?” That has resulted in a couple bulleted items that I keep in mind throughout the day. I’ve also used this time to get clear on what tasks and projects I want to focus on that day, or what time blocks my day was broken into. Where journaling has felt introspectively grounding, this task and goal planning has given me direction and intention for my actions and attention.
Consistency
I’ll be honest…in the last week I’ve only done a morning practice a total of three times. I set out with motivation, but that wasn’t entirely reflected in my implementation.
To help motivate my consistency, I’ve created a tracking chart. This way I can hold myself accountable for the days I do a morning practice, and I can make note of what I do each of those days. This visual will, I’m hoping, serve to motivate stronger regularity in my implementation.
The tracking chart will also help me reflect on which activities are beneficial in my morning practice. Looking at this visual on a larger scale, I can look at which activities I gravitate to, and determine if I want to add additional activities with more intentionality.